Medals & Coins, Arms & Militaria

Our spring auction will include the medal groups to two gallant and accomplished pilots: the First World War Military Cross group to Squadron Leader John Tudor Powell Whittaker R.F.C./R.A.F.; and the Second World War Air Force Cross group to Squadron Leader Harold Quittenden, R.A.F.. Interestingly, both these men also held marks of distinction conferred by foreign powers: Whittaker’s include the Italian Order of the Crown and the ‘Al Valore Militare’ for service on the Austro-Italian front in 1917-18; while Quittenden received the Czechoslovak Observer’s Badge for training Czechoslovak crewmen for service in radar equipped night fighters – a field in which he specialised.

The catalogue will also have a distinct Indian theme. A large single vendor consignment of medals for the campaigns fought in British India, and a magnificent model of a 5 ½ inch howitzer, the carriage and limber having been constructed at the Bombay Artillery carriage manufactory in 1822, will be accompanied by a selection of Indian edged weapons.